Briefly discuss and analyze the role of the police, the court and the Department of Corrections in the Juvenile Justice System. Based on the research presented in the textbook identify and analyze the method you feel best addresses juvenile delinquency in terms of reducing future recidivism.
The primary goal of juvenile justice system is to rehabilitate youthful offenders. Each state has its own juvenile justice system and the implementation of the statute involves various departments that include the police, the court and the Department of Corrections. Each department takes different roles in the implementing the juvenile justice system. The role of police involves their participation in the pre-delinquent intervention that aims to prevent the commission of crimes by minor offenders, identify the risks of committing crimes by juvenile offenders and enforce arrests when necessary (Sims and Preston, 2006). The police department is considered to be the frontline implementing agency in response to crimes and police officers are exposed on the field to make contact and arrest of juvenile offenders. The court, on the other hand, is responsible in determining the criminal and civil liabilities of the juvenile offenders brought by the police under judicial custody. The juvenile courts are specialized courts where the juvenile offenders are sanctioned and detained. Instead of rendering judgment to the youth offenders, the court’s role is to determine the rehabilitation program suited for the juvenile offender instead of rendering afflictive punishment as part of the judicial justice system (Martin, 2005). It can be said that the juvenile justice system operates as a decentralized part of the judicial system and the offenders sanctioned by the court for rehabilitation are under the supervision of the Department of Corrections. The agency’s role is to place in its custody the juvenile offenders who are committed by the court for detention and probation. The Department of Corrections operate in a state level and its role include the determination whether the child needs to be placed in a foster home, secure confinement or a hospital where rehabilitation is best possible in providing corrective sanctions to the child in conflict with the law.
Juvenile offenders can become recidivists who may repeatedly commit the same or similar crimes and become subjected to repeated arrest, repeated conviction, or be committed in prison with or without the sanction of a new sentence within a three-year period from the time of his last arrest. In order to prevent recidivism, the juvenile justice system may implement preventive measures to help the full rehabilitation of juvenile offenders and to prevent recidivism. These measures may include the implementation of rehabilitation programs where a juvenile offender may be committed to train in order to improve their opportunity of finding potential future employment or occupation. This form of rehabilitation will enable the child to identify his self worth and gain better confidence of his ability to completely reform and become a better person who is no longer in conflict with the law. By learning how to become productive, the juvenile delinquent may learn how and where to spend his time worthily and steer himself from committing crimes. Another method that can help reduce future recidivism is providing counseling services to the youth offender, which must extend to his family members. The resolution of crimes is not solely the responsibility of the state, but also by every family that serves as a basic unit of the society. Parents should undergo through the same counseling as their child in conflict with the law to teach them how to manage the criminal behavior of their delinquent child. A juvenile offender is always within the close supervision of parents who must stand as their primary guardian in correcting an erring child. Counseling to the youth offender will help shape the child’s values and it also gives an opportunity to identify the cause of the child’s criminal behavior.
References:
Martin, G. (2005). Juvenile Justice. Process and System. London: Sage Publications.
Sims, B. and Preston, P. (2006). Handbook of Juvenile Justice: Theory and Practice. USA: CRC Press.
